In article <3lclh2$jss at news.rain.org>, anackerp at rain.org () wrote:
> From a new lurker - Part of what I got from one of the posts is
> that there are over a 100 aging processes and we are all affected
> differently by them. This seems logical and in tune with the idea of
> biochemical individuality. My question is this: How do we determine
> which of the aging processes affect us as an individual?
>> Paul Anacker, Esq.
> Lead Editor, "Biological Aging Measurements..." by Ward Dean, MD
I think that these 100 or more processes are theoretical, and far from
proven. Some people think that there is more likely to be a master clock
that regulates ageing, or at least some aspects of it. For example, many
researchers working on celluar senescence currently favour telomere length
as the clock that drives senescence.
In any case people are all biochemically similar: you'd find the same
processes in all of us. What may differ is the environmental influences we
encounter. For example, differences in fat content of the diet determines
the rate of heart disease: people who eat more fat are more likely to have
heart disease and die of it. But such diseases are not ageing.
I think that there is confusion therefore, between ageing, which could
very well be a single process with pleiotropic effects, and the
accumulation of environmental wear and tear which is cleary multifactorial
Oliver